Santander Northampton County Court

JayJayH

Hi everyone,

About 2 years ago I had a car on finance and some payments were missed which resulted in action being taken requesting I give the car back.

I agreed to give the car back and it was recovered and the driver said now I've given the car back it would be up to sandander if they want to pursue any remaining debt

Fast forward 2 years and I hadn't heard anything so I presumed they'd sold the car and dropped the debt

I've received a letter today from DWF LLP which from googling states they are solicitors, the letter includes the agreement number and claim number and says "We refer you to the Judgement granted in this matter by the Northampton County Court Business Centre"

The amount is just over £6000

Then it just goes on to say they want a breakdown of my income etc and there are 2 forms included to detail this and offer a payment I can do monthly or weekly and I have 14 days to do so

Now I ha e two issues here, one is the amount they are claiming is more then the original finance amount (given that I was paying it monthly) and the other issue is that I gave the vehicle back so surely the amount should've reduced?

As it stands at the minute I am unemployed and do not even have a bank account, I don't want to go to court but I don't know how I can resolve this

Thank you

National_Debtline

Hi

It sounds like a CCJ has already been made, but you should’ve received a claim form initially to allow you the chance to dispute the debt if you wanted. Have you changed address?

If the car was on a type of finance such as hire purchase you’re right that the lender should sell the car and take the sale price off the outstanding balance. It may be that interest and charges have been added but you should request a full written breakdown of the debt to clarify this.

From there it will depend on whether you agree with the amount they say you owe or not. It may be possible to set aside the CCJ and challenge the amount. Otherwise you can apply to court to set affordable low instalments, or maybe consider a form of insolvency to have debts written off depending on your circumstances.

James
@natdebtline

JayJayH

Hi James thank you for the reply

The car finance was (I forgot the proper term) to keep the car at the end not hire/lease it so what would be the case then? I though I was doing the positive thing by giving the car back as to not get myself into anymore trouble or debt surely if I've given the car back and they've sold it but still want me to pay full agreement price I would've been better keeping the car! :eek: in today's market the vehicle would still sell for £6000 privately so I doubt they would've sold it for anything less then £3000 even in auction

I have moved address approximately almost a year now but only to my partners with our kids, I've been unemployed for a few months now and don't have any income although I am actively seeking work (qualified chef)

I do admit I have other debts but it's very much been a head sand case, no where as big as this luckily but a few years ago I was a bit younger and stupider

Who do I contact about getting a breakdown of the debt? The courts or the law firm who have contacted me and do they have to provide me with it if I ask

National_Debtline

With hire purchase you would have owned the car once the final payment was made so it could be that. It’s the most common type of car finance.

They just need to send a court claim to the last known address they have for you so that probably explains why you didn’t know about it.

If they sold the car for an unreasonably low amount you may even have a complaint. Only the breakdown will reveal that though so you’ll need to request it from the solicitors and they should provide you with it. Make the request in writing and explain that you’re looking into the matter and will be taking steps to deal with it but as this is the first you’ve heard of the CCJ you need to take some advice.

You’re welcome to give National Debtline a call if you’d like an adviser to take a look at your whole situation and discuss options for dealing with your debts.

James
@natdebtline

JayJayH

Ive found out tonight my partner forgot to inform me I had a letter on the 20th the letter is from Santander themselves saying it's been defaulted and the amount on that letter was £5700 which is still a lot considering they would of made a large chunk from selling the vehicle.

Also stated £25 had been added due to having to send it to my new address

The amount on the letter from the solicitors is £6300 so in the space of a week it has risen £600! Surely CCJ costs are not that much?

I'm really disappointed now as if I'd of known about the letter I could of tried to resolve it with Santander directly

I think tomorrow I will try write a letter and send it to both parties, I'm really stressing about it I don't want to go to court and it's an awful lot of money when I'm unemployed currently and just had a new baby

Bonfire_Bride

It is possible that the outstanding debt also includes the "full amount borrowed". This would include interest etc. Was it a PCP agreement where you have a large balloon payment at the end? This may also be responsible for the high amount of debt.

Good Luck and congratulations on the new arrival. x

sourcrates

If your unemployed, they can't have what you haven't got can they, it stands to reason.
Do you own a house or rent ? If you rent, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to you in relation to this debt.

If you own a house, they can apply for a charging order, only if your working can they attest your wages, as your unemployed, there's zilctch they can do !!

gazza1012

Is it santander chasing you for the original debt? or as i suspect, a debt collection agency who have no rights, they are third party interlopers, living off the misery off people in crisis.

gazza1012

Simply, they buy the debt off Sandanter, very cheaply, then pursue you for the original (full debt) and cream the profits. You a debt Collection Agency nothing, you have no contract with them.

JayJayH

Bonfire_Bride wrote: »

It is possible that the outstanding debt also includes the "full amount borrowed". This would include interest etc. Was it a PCP agreement where you have a large balloon payment at the end? This may also be responsible for the high amount of debt.

Good Luck and congratulations on the new arrival. x

Unfortunately I no longer have any of the paperwork but I roughly remember it being£350 a month with something like £600 being the last payment, the full cost of finance was £6600 the solicitors say I now owe £6300 I understand charges apply especially given its a 2 year debt but bearing in mind I had made payments and gave the car back to be sold etc I'm still at the full amount

And thank you

JayJayH

sourcrates wrote: »

If your unemployed, they can't have what you haven't got can they, it stands to reason.
Do you own a house or rent ? If you rent, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to you in relation to this debt.

If you own a house, they can apply for a charging order, only if your working can they attest your wages, as your unemployed, there's zilctch they can do !!

I'm living with my partner renting but that's all in her name and we are lucky in that she was able to get housing benefit when I became unemployed so at least that is one less stress for the moment.